As an American, we have the right to bear arms. We can own guns and it is widely accepted in the States. They've existed since our forefathers carried them, so why can't we, right?

I am currently teaching overseas and the laws here are completely different!

In Korea, NO ONE owns a firearm, and even many of the POLICE don't carry firearms. The only time I've seen a gun here is at a bank on a security guard, or from patrolling SWAT members. Korea's take is that if they do start using firearms, there would be an increase in crime, suicide, and other mal-behavior.

For those that are living overseas somewhere else, what are the laws/perspectives there?

Also, what do you think? Do you think there would be an increase in crime due to an increase in access to firearms?

2ndAmendmentFreedom

05-11-2012 03:01 AM

I have no idea if the crime rate would increase in a country like South Korea. I believe that gun ownership isn't compatible with every culture because it is not only a tool for self defense but also a stance against tyranny. If tyranny is the normal way of life, then guns have no place in the hands of normal citizens. It might sound far fetched but there's a reason why Hitler and the communists went after gun owners in their country. On top of that With that right comes great responsibility and from what I'm reading about South Korea here in America, it looks like part of the population is extremely immature (I work in IT and I always read about South Koreans dying while playing video games and parents taking care of virtual babies instead of their own). I don't know if that is representative of South Koreans so feel free to explain how people are there. A culture that would be incompatible with citizen gun ownership is China. I had a friend who lived there for a while and he told me that a big part of the population still bows down to old dictators and acts like robots in general. These people would have no use for guns except for making their suicide easier. I'm sure there is a minority that rebels against the system but I don't think I'm generalizing when I say that Chinese people in China (not Americanized/Westernized Chinese) are robots. There was a video of a truck that ran over a little girl, the driver realized it and kept driving and dozens of people walked by the agonizing girl briefly looking at the body until a young woman came and picked her up. I know it's a huge population but what comes to my mind when talking about mainstream China is: enslaved population working in factories taking their own lives, police state, lack of hygiene, organ trafficking etc.

towboater

05-11-2012 03:09 AM

Korea has a very low crime rate. The people there are brought up respecting other people, and especially their elders. At 18 all men go to the military. Criminals are punished accordingly. I would call it a very conservative country.

2ndAmendmentFreedom

05-11-2012 03:12 AM

If I had a neighbor like North Korea I would probably like to have an armed population. Gun ownership is the most natural checks and balances, puts power into everybody's hands, much more than casting a vote. I don't know much about the Korean culture to know if owning firearms is part of their culture & heritage.

kingkongjc

05-11-2012 03:14 AM

The video games aspect exists but is extremely uncommon and actually irrelevant in this discussion. It really depends on what you mean by immature. Students have died in PC cafes due to a lack of food,water, and even a lack of a real source of oxygen. The virtual babies thing might be more common in Japan. I've never heard or experienced that here in Korea.

As far as the discussion topic, guns are simply looked at as unnecessary.

2ndAmendmentFreedom

05-11-2012 03:20 AM

Well the reason why I think it was relevant is that if people are so focused doing one thing, they're probably not thinking about owning guns. It is very common for people to consider guns unnecessary, we have a handful of people like that here too. But here our rights are constantly under attack and we take our Constitution VERY seriously, gun ownership is taking a stance against the destruction of the Bill of Rights. I really don't know enough about South Korea to tell you why it would be necessary to own guns or if the population is ready for it, you can probably answer that question :)

Durangokid

05-11-2012 03:28 AM

You are new to this forum. You have 3 post all questioning American gun ownership. The Antigun Left has always made a point of low gun ownership as being more civilized. They often use the oppressed Far Eastern countries as an example.:confused:

rjd3282

05-11-2012 03:28 AM

The South Koreans sure as hell thought our guns were necessary.

vincent

05-11-2012 04:11 AM

Japan has arguably the strictest gun laws in the civilized world and a very low gun violence rate....BUT...their suicide rate is 5 times higher than it is here in the US.

That being said, that's there and this is here. A reasonable comparison can't be accurately drawn between the two because, like I said, that's there and this is here...

2ndAmendmentFreedom

05-11-2012 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincent
(Post 796970)

Japan has arguably the strictest gun laws in the civilized world and a very low gun violence rate....BUT...their suicide rate is 5 times higher than it is here in the US.

That being said, that's there and this is here. A reasonable comparison can't be accurately drawn between the two because, like I said, that's there and this is here...

Ya that was my point when I said that it's not compatible with every culture. The USA were founded with a revolution, bearing arms founded this country and granted us our independence, so it's dear to us. Each country is unique, its citizens have different values, different beliefs and different ideas on how the country should work.